The Exchanges

Q Wow. So, uh, how long ago did you start the company and, and what's the, what's the evolution look like since inception?

A Yeah, we started in 2019, um, January of 2019, um, we grew about 50% a month, every single month from January of 2019 all the way up to March of 2020. Yeah, I don't have to tell you what happened in March of 2020, um, but essentially we dropped like 90, 80, 90% almost overnight. Um, and then pulled ourself out, uh, took us about a year and a half, two years, pulled ourself out, uh, and, you know, now we've got, you know, thousands of businesses on our platform, you know, uh, you know, millions of consumers on our platform, and it's, um, you know, been, been a, a fun run, but, uh, uh, but definitely has its ups and downs, and, and we, you know, rolled those downs, learned from them to get better at the ups.

AI assessment note: “we started in 2019, um, January of 2019, um, we grew about 50% a month”

Q I'm curious. Did you, was it, did you always seek out mentors in your career?

A No, no, I was, I, you know, I, I grew up in a, in a pretty rough neighborhood in New York city. Uh, and, uh, Prior to meeting Paul, I was a pretty troubled kid. A friend of mine dragged me to a conference in Oklahoma City, a leadership conference, and I was like, you know, 18, everybody there was, most of the people there were like in their fifties, sixties, seventies, and there was a party, and I sat outside of the party and got a chance to meet this guy, Paul, 85, um, you know, not really like a big Personality, but, you know, mostly ask me questions about, like, who I am, and, you know, what, what I want to do, existential life questions, and I got a chance to learn from, you know, somebody that just from a happenstance of an interaction, and that became the guy that I followed, and, and tried to learn from, and tried to emulate in the early days, so yeah, I wasn't a, a mentor seeker until after that moment.

AI assessment note: “I wasn't a, a mentor seeker until after that moment.”

Q Um, so, okay, so you, you hire someone, you figure out, uh, they're not, for whatever the reason, uh, It's not a fit. How much, ah, how much leeway do they get, do you give them, do you try to find a different role or, or, or you, do you find that you're quick to fire?

A So, in leadership roles, I'm always quick to fire, uh, for others, I've always, I've been a bit slow, uh, to be honest, I, and it's probably my worst, um, my worst feature as a leader is, like, I, I care a lot about people, and so I tend to give people more chances than they probably deserve, but, um, but the reality is, I think if you ask me what the core of my philosophy is, it's hire fast, fire fast. You're never going to get perfect on the person that you hire, so you, you have to be very clear on what you want, and try to get as close to that as possible, and then in your first 30, 60, 90 days, you probably know. Your first 30 days, you probably know, and now you're saying, okay, am I helping guide this person up? And if they can't really make it to where we need them to go, how quickly am I guiding them out? You know, I've hired a VP and let them go within 90 days. You know, so I think that you, every great founder has to be willing to cut the cord. And this is probably the thing that holds, you know, uh, most companies back is having too many B and C players.

AI assessment note: “in leadership roles, I'm always quick to fire, uh, for others, I've been a bit slow”

Q um, first person to articulate it the way you did, so I love it. Um, unfortunately, I, I see we're, we're near the, the end of our time here. Before we wrap up, you know, as you reflect back, uh, over the decades, just what, what key lessons, uh, have bubbled up, or is there anything in particular that you wish you would have knew when you first started out?

A Yeah, your job as a CEO, as a founder, is to train emotional control under pressure. Most founders and CEOs are on an emotional rollercoaster. Things are great, everybody's happy. When things are bad, everybody's sad. Like, you've gotta have an even keel. And You have to learn how to not spiral with the numbers when the numbers dip, because they will. Like, things go down, things go up. You know, you need to learn how to not lie to yourself. You know, tell yourself the truth. You know, things are good. My, one of my mentors used to always say, um, you can't grow from where you are, where you think you are. You should, you can only grow from where you actually are. Um, you just gotta learn how to absorb fear without, like, letting it leak downstream. Like, most people's fear. Your confidence You, how you show up impacts those around you, and if you can show up with power and authority, most people around you will show up with power, authority, faith, belief, and you start moving mountains.

AI assessment note: “your job as a CEO, as a founder, is to train emotional control under pressure.”

Q Um, you know, how have you, have you had any other pivots? Um, are there any other, you know, uh, significant moments on the trajectory that, um, That you've had to deal with, or, uh, the way the business has evolved?

A Yeah, I would say the most significant moment is really the moment that we're living in right now. So, uh, it really started in January of this year. So I, you know, in the early days, so this is my fourth business. My, you know, my first company was a reseller business. We built that to over 800 sales and markets across the country. Then I had a brand business, an investment company, and then this company. And in my investment company, a friend of mine had called me. This was in early 2013. And he was saying, he said, Eugene, hey, have you heard of this thing called blockchain? And I said, no, I never heard of it. What, what, what is it? And he starts walking me through crypto. And I just catch a fire for what the story behind what crypto was trying to accomplish. And so I became an investor. So my average Bitcoin price was like 200 dollars a coin. And Um, at that time, I was the most liquid that I had ever been. I had the most conviction that I ever had, but my investment didn't match the liquidity and the commitment, so, you know, don't cry me a river. I made a lot of money, but it should have been enough that I'd be on an island somewhere, and I told myself I would never make that mistake again, and Come January of this year. I start using AI in a way that really started to change my perspective. And I remember prior to that, I was using AI, you know, you would use somethin…

AI assessment note: “I would say the most significant moment is really the moment that we're living in”

Q I like that. I may borrow that difference between motion and progress. What are, uh, what are some of the things you do to eliminate distractions?

A I mean, one, I turn off, you know, all notifications, you know, uh, I don't have any notifications. Uh, I go to my email last, not first of the day, you know, I'm, I may jump into my email at noon, one, you know, after I've already touched all of the things that I'm supposed to do. Uh, I always start my day with a plan, so I'm very clear on exactly, like, I've already, uh, Today has already been done yesterday. I'm just living it out right now. Uh, and I think that that's something that a lot of people miss. They come into the day and they're like, okay, what's important today? But like, as a founder, you've already got to be aligned. So like, how am I going to make this day great? Um, one of the things is like goal setting. I have this concept that I learned from Paul called 51 amp or 51 amps, I should say. Um, and it's basically like a five-year vision You know, one-year execution. Like, what is the one, two, or three things you can do this year that can get you closer to that five-year vision? And then AM is achievable milestones. Like, have you broken this thing down? Like, I know what I'm gonna do this quarter. I know what I'm gonna do this month. This month, if I do these things this month, it will lead me to the quarter goal. If I do these things this week, it will lead me to the week goal. If I do these things today, it will lead me to Um, you know, the, the, the month …

AI assessment note: “I turn off, you know, all notifications, you know, uh, I don't have any notifications.”

Q Um, I agree. So, uh, looking ahead. So it sounds like businesses firing on all cylinders, but, you know, as you mentioned, the world is going to change in the coming years. So what's your outlook? Uh, and, uh, anything that you can share for proactive steps you're taking to make sure you, you remain in front of the curve.

A Yeah, I mean, so I have a big goal for 2026. You know, our goal is a billion dollars in transactions in 2026 alone. And so, um, but everybody has a vision, very few operationalize it, right? Like, we want to change the world, but, you know, you got to turn that into weekly priorities, org designs, incentives, KPIs, so on and so forth. And so I think that that's really what I care about the most right now. Is, like, how do I set up our team for success? And how do I create a way for my executives to lead at the level that I would lead at? Um, and some of it means, like, slightly supporting the executive, and some of it means, like, finding the right person for the next, you know, success. You know, what got me here is not going to get me there. And so, like, thinking about those things, I think, is the, is probably primary focus for, Uh, for the, for the next year, but, uh, you know, I think it's about, uh, strong vision, organizing that vision, strong leadership, organizing those leaders, strong hiring, strong culture, um, and really just, uh, uh, keeping money in the bank. So, you know, I think that those are kind of the things that, that are, that are top of mind for me. Great.

AI assessment note: “our goal is a billion dollars in transactions in 2026 alone”

Q Love it. Uh, you also mentioned hiring, the value of having smart and effective staff. So how does that translate into culture? Uh, and how do you think about, how do you think about managing, managing people?

A Yeah, I think as our company has grown, we've got over seven employees now. And so now there are certain things that you learn that you're realizing, oh, I just had this conversation yesterday. I'm like, oh, certain cultural elements are slipping. And I'm like, we're trying to pinpoint how and where. And a lot of it roots back to the hiring process and how you do it. And I remember I was in a, um, a leadership conference for, um, you know, a Series B investor at a leadership conference, and I was in the conference, and one of the leaders on stage said, Raise your hand if you think recruiting is the number, is, is the top five things that you should be focused on as a CEO of the company. Everybody, a hundred percent raise their hands. Raise your hand if you think it's top three. A hundred percent. Raise your hand if you think it's number one. A hundred percent. Everybody said, like, if you're going to be successful, recruiting is the number one thing, hiring is the number one thing. Then you ask a simple question. How much have you invested in learning how to recruit? Great. Raise your hand if you've invested more than any other thing. That's the number one thing. Nobody raised their head. And I'm just like, why, it just opened my eyes to the fact that, man, we know that it's the most important thing, but we very rarely invest in it, and it's the thing that sets the culture.

AI assessment note: “a lot of it roots back to the hiring process and how you do it”

Q pandemic hits, you wake up and you realize that you've, you've got a fire on your hands. Uh, what was your thinking at the time? How did, did you, was it clear that no matter what you were going to power ahead or did you have a framework that you use to decide whether or not you were going to, you were going to move on to the next thing?

A Yeah. So, you know, when you, uh, you know, funny enough, one of my, uh, one of my, uh, Um, mentors. His name was Paul J. Meyer. Uh, was my first mentor. He was a billionaire. Crazy how I met him, but I met him when I was, uh, 18. Uh, and I remember when I was talking to him, he used to always say, great entrepreneurs know how to turn an L into a V. And I didn't know what he meant until this moment. Like, I always thought he was talking about a loss into a victory. But when I saw my chart go like this and go like this, And then tail off like this, and then come back up. I was, I understood what he meant. And so essentially, I had the viewpoint that we were going to find a way. The question just became what, what the way was. And so we did everything from, you know, we had self-service kiosks, which was one of our main, um, you know, products at the time. You know, we were sending people sanitation kits. We were building new products that would be more digital. Like we, You know, we did everything we could. We tried to convince business owners how to reshape their business, you know, putting kiosks outside of the stores, putting tables in front of the doors so that, you know, they could have that interaction and still make purchases. Um, you know, we did what we could to try to, um, to, to, to combat that. But I think for our focus, we knew that if there's a will, there's always…

AI assessment note: “essentially, I had the viewpoint that we were going to find a way.”

Q your own, you know, taking care of yourself, making sure that, you know, in, in, in the process of, you know, building a company that's going to It's, I'm sure I get the sense you're gonna do a billion in transactions next year. Um, how do you make sure that you're still in a position to be able to show up day in, day out, and take care of business?

A Yeah, a lot. I, as I have grown, I've started to realize, you know, I've built businesses into the hundreds of employees, but I've never built businesses into the thousands, and I don't even know if we'll ever do that in today's world, but I think that the function of the type of leader you need to be to build a company into the thousands will still stay, even if the company never reaches the thousands. And, you know, that's the question that I'm asking myself every day. Am I the leader that can take us from a billion to a hundred billion? And over the, over the last year and over the next year, that's what the thing, that's the biggest thing I'm focusing on. Can I be healthy mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally? Like, how do I get my mind to a place where I am successful, not just in executing the day-to-days, but thinking and That process is an intentional process. So I'm, you know, I'm seeking guidance around, um, you know, I've got, you know, two advisors hoping to bring one a third in the beginning of the new year. Um, I've got, um, you know, processes that I'm putting in place as far as my learning schedules and, you know, what I feel like I need to know this year, uh, the books I'm reading, the audios I'm listening to, the events that I'm going to, like, these are the things that I need to do to keep myself calibrated mentally, because You know, at the end of t…

AI assessment note: “I'm seeking guidance around... I've got, you know, two advisors”

Q to market, and across there we're finding tremendous opportunity to streamline workflows. Yeah. Um, and my sense is that it is here to stay. So what's your take? Uh, how does, how does this change your, your, your human capital strategy? Um, do you, do you have, what's your opinion? Do you think it's going to, or what impact do you think the technology will have on, on your hiring?

A Yeah, well, it's impact on everything. I, I, I think it is, goes even beyond a technology that's here to stay. Like, I feel like we've entered an era where AI native product velocity and mass distribution is going to decide everything. Like, AI native creation and mass distribution aren't just, like, advantages that we'll be able to take advantage of. They, they are the dividing line between those who rise and those who vanish. And the reason why I believe that is what is the value of a small business or a startup? You have the ability to be niche. You have the ability to move quickly. You have the ability to iterate in ways that big companies can. What happens when a big company becomes as fast, as nimble, as clear of, um, of execution? I'll give you an example. In our company, uh, Grubhub decided when we, early in the, uh, in maybe, like, twenty-twenty-one, twenty-twenty-two, Grubhub decided to create a competing product, a kiosk. Now, creating a hardware in the physical world is extremely difficult. A lot of people think it's, like, super easy because, oh, it's just, you know, simple functions, simple flows, but, you know, it is extremely hard. Grubhub put a billion dollars into that flow and then killed it 18 months later. The question becomes, why? Because it's hard. And what does AI do? Make some things that are hard a lot easier and allows for you to, you know, they prob…

AI assessment note: “Yeah, well, it's impact on everything. I, I, I think it is”